PRESIDENT David Granger will on May 21 participate in the Arab Islamic American Summit to be held at the King Adulaziz Convention Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Minister of State Joseph Harmon announced on Thursday.
The President has accepted the invitation by the King of Saudi Arabia, His Highness Salman Bin Adbulaziz Al Saud to participate in the summit, which will also see U.S. President Donald Trump attending. The summit focuses on enhancing security partnerships to counter and prevent the growing threat of terrorism and violent extremism globally, by promoting tolerance and moderation.
The President will be accompanied by Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge, Director- General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Audrey Waddle. Director of Education at the Central Islamic Organisation, Moen-ul-Hack ,will also be attending the summit.

This is not the President’s first visit to Saudi Arabia; in fact, President Granger attended the Arab-South American Summit (ASPA) there. Asked whether the head-of-state is likely to have bilateral discussions with U.S. President Trump, Harmon replied, “I cannot speak to that…this is a meeting of world leaders, we do not have a specific agenda with regard to meetings with our head of state and president Trump, but what I do know that the issues in relation to the Islamic Development Bank and the loans and facilities that are available to Guyana would be part of the engagements.”
Additionally, the Minister of State made it clear that issues relative to global threats will be discussed. Guyana joined the Islamic Development Bank last year after becoming a member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in 1998.
Becoming a member of the OIC is a prerequisite to obtain membership of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). Guyana’s membership affords the country an alternative source of financing to highly concessional resources, which includes grants and interest-free loans.
The areas of intervention of the IDB include human development, rural development and food safety, infrastructural development, trade among member countries and private sector development, research and development in Islamic economies, and banking and finance.
Several meetings were held in Georgetown between representatives of the bank and government on possible funding for projects. On Thursday, Harmon was asked whether the government is at all concerned about the pace at which Guyana has been able to receive assistance from the bank. “No, I would not say that we are very concerned about it, because there are processes which we knew had to be undertaken once we signed on to the bank and we became a member of the bank.
“It is not as if we expected things to happen immediately and it didn’t happen. These processes we are aware of and Minister of Finance Mr Winston Jordan is a member of the bank’s board and is representing Guyana’s interest in a very aggressive way,” the Minister of State added.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and wife Sita Namootoo will be travelling to Guadeloupe from May 19-22 for the 100th Anniversary Festival of the End of Indian Indentureship which will be held in Capesterre Belle, Guadeloupe. The festival will be hosted by the Guadeloupe Chapter of The Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOIPO), with the objective of sharing with the Caribbean, the multi-cultural heritage of Guadeloupe and the French West Indies.
The visit by the prime minister and Mrs Nagamootoo are to promote friendly relations between Guyana and Guadeloupe. As a result of President Granger, PM Nagamootoo and second Vice-President Greenidge being out of the country at the same time, third Vice-President and Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, will perform duties of President.